NOTE: This is a revamped and updated version of a previous article on the site from a long time ago (2011).

Quite a bit in investment banking has changed since then, and the old categories of banks were too vague, so I wanted to revisit this topic, classify the banks more precisely, and sort-of-rank them (again).

If there’s one thing I love, it’s ranking everything imaginable.

From schools to banks to restaurants, what’s the point of life unless you’re ranking everything and constantly comparing yourself to others?

Just kidding – it’s a massive waste of time.

Despite that, it is helpful to know about the different types of banks, especially since the categories have changed over time.

And, while it’s stupid to “rank the banks,” it is helpful to understand the trade-offs of working at different firms:

Warnings and Disclaimers

First, this article is not a ranking: It is just a classification of different banks.

As you’ll see, many of the groups “rank” at about the same level.

Second, do not judge yourself based on any online list or discussion, including this one.

Finally, before you freak out and start wondering why I did not mention your bank, realize that it is impossible to mention every bank in the world.

They also have sales & trading, research, wealth management, and all the other financial services you could imagine.

They tend to work on the largest deals, usually those above $1 billion USD in size, though they sometimes go lower than that depending on the market.

Over the past ten years (2006 – 2016), there has been asplit in this group, with the “Top 3” (GS, MS, and JPM) performing better than the rest.

The European banks have also moved away from investment banking and toward wealth management and other businesses, which has hurt their prospects.

Some people even argue that firms like UBS shouldn’t be on this list anymore, but I’m not sure I would go that far (yet).

Analysts at the bulge-bracket banks get into private equity firms and hedge funds of all sizes, but they’re more likely to do so if they’re in non-ECM/DCM teams, such as strong industry groups, M&A, or Leveraged Finance.

In-Between-a-Banks (IBABs)

These firms are often strong in one specific product, such as debt, but don’t do as much business in other areas.

They also tend to work on smaller deals, overall, than the bulge brackets, but these deals are still bigger than what middle-market and boutique banks work on.

Wells Fargo is the classic example of the “In-Between-a-Bank”: Technically, it’s not a bulge bracket, but it’s also not a boutique or middle-market firm.

Many of these firms also tend to be strong in one region, such as Europe for the French banks or Japan for the Japanese banks, but don’t do as well elsewhere.

You can win the traditional exit opportunities coming from these banks, but it’s safe to say that fewer Analysts get into the largest buy-side funds, and more tend to move to other banks, smaller funds, or normal companies.

Elite Boutiques (EBs)

These firms, with a few exceptions, focus on M&A Advisory and Restructuring rather than debt and equity, and they often work on the same deals that the bulge brackets advise on.

You’ll see at least one elite boutique on almost any huge M&A deal in the U.S. or Europe.

Despite that, these firms are still much smaller than the bulge brackets.

These firms are more common in emerging markets where people care less about conflicts of interest.

In India, “knowledge process outsourcing,” or KPO, firms do similar work for many banks.

They’ll create pitch books, crunch numbers, and do other tasks that the global banks prefer to outsource.

There are also hybrid firms that do a combination of consulting and investment banking, especially in areas like Restructuring.

If you want to work at a large bank or win a traditional exit opportunity, you’re better off going to a real investment bank than one of these firms.

There are some exceptions to that rule, but mostly in specialized fields (e.g., turnaround consulting can lead to Restructuring roles at elite boutiques).

So, Which Bank Should You Work At?

That’s completely the wrong question.

You should be asking which banks you have a realistic chance of working at.

For example, if you just graduated, you earned a 3.2 GPA (or a 2:2 with low A-Levels in the U.K.), and you only became interested in investment banking last month, you are not going to win offers at bulge brackets, elite boutiques, or middle-market firms.

Very Certain – It’s more of a toss-up, so you have to be more specific:

You Want to Stay in IB for the Long Term – It’s almost always better to take the EB offer because you’ll earn higher compensation and get more interesting work.

You Want to Move into Private Equity or Hedge Funds ASAP – It depends on your specific group. An M&A offer at an EB easily beats an ECM offer at a BB, but if you’re deciding between two strong industry groups, make a decision based on the people.

After running this site for almost ten years, my opinion is that most people don’t know what they want to do.

Especially in the last few years, I’ve seen a lot of students plan to go to mega-funds, but then get burned out after six months in IB and quit to join tech companies instead.

The Bottom Line: Even though elite boutiques do offer many advantages over bulge brackets, you’re still better off going to a BB unless you’re very, very certain of your long-term plans.

For example, if you’ve done four off-cycle and summer internships at banks of different sizes and concluded that IB is your passion, sure, accept the EB offer.

But if you’ve only done one 3-month summer internship, and you have EB and BB offers, you take less of a chance by going to the bulge bracket.

Got Rankings?

Most people spend far too much time “ranking” banks and not enough time thinking about where they have a realistic chance of working – or what their long-term plans are.

It’s good to know how the banks differ, but it’s even better to know what fits in best with your plans and what the opportunities from each bank look like.

About the Author

Brian DeChesare is the Founder of Mergers & Inquisitions and Breaking Into Wall Street. In his spare time, he enjoys memorizing obscure Excel functions, editing resumes, obsessing over TV shows, traveling like a drug dealer, and defeating Sauron.

Comments

Does the deal experience from summer internship count? My group had a lot of deal flows last summer and I was on two deals and they recently got closed. Can I talk about these two deals for my interviews with other banks?

Now the deals I am working on are super slow and barely have any update. I know you wrote an article on working on cross-border M&A deals before and not suggest readers to ask more work from staffer. However, since my deals are so slow and I don’t have great deal experience after joining the same firm for full time, do you think I should reach out to my staffer and mention I will have capacity to help on other projects? Meanwhile, since it’s almost Christmas time, I don’t think the market is very active overall, and I don’t want to get random assignments.

Yes, you can talk about that deal experience in interviews with other banks. If it has been months and you haven’t had good deal experience yet, yes, you should reach out to your staffer and say that you can help with other projects (but as you said, the market always slows down at the end of the year, so there may not be much out there).

I worked on two closed deals last summer and I definitely will talk about those in my interviews. I’ve started in this back in August. After one month training, I’ve been working here for 3 months. In these 3 months, I’ve worked 4 bake-offs and 2 live deals. One of the live deals didn’t require I do much and the other one is very quiet. Based on your experience, would you say my deal experience is normally or too limited.

I’ve emailed my staffer and expressed my willingness to help on other projects. My staff hasn’t responded it yet…do you think I should walk into his office tomorrow and ask for more work? I would rather work for 24 hours than sitting at my desk and doing nothing.

Eastdil has a great reputation for real estate (maybe the best RE-focused bank), so if you want stay in RE or move to RE-related exit opportunities, it’s a good choice. Raymond James is better if you’re not sure what you want to specialize in yet and you want to keep your options open.

I am an international student who started as an analyst 4 months ago. My bank is a boutique firm but I want to work in a bulge bank for better exit opportunities. I really want to start looking for other positions and start networking, but my current company will sponsor my visa (the visa process will start next April and if you get the visa lottery, you can’t move before October when the visa gets effective).

Hence, if I stay with my current firm, I won’t be able to change for another bank until October next year…If I start looking for opportunities at other banks, I may join the firm right before the visa process and I am not even sure whether I will get the visa in April (it’s a lottery process).

If I don’t get a visa, I would need to return Hong Kong. However, then I would have 5-6 months experience in this boutique firm and another 3-4 months experience at a bigger firm.

Given so many uncertainties about the visa and immigration policy, what would you suggest or have you seen any readers have the same issue before?

My boutique firm’s deal flows are not strong at all so I am really worried I won’t get great experience listed on my resume.

I think it depends on how much you want to stay in the U.S. If you don’t care, and you really just want to leave the firm, apply for roles at large banks in HK and move ASAP. If you want to stay in the country, stay and try to make a move around October next year. You can start interviewing a few months before that, assuming you get a visa.

Even if your deal experience isn’t great, you could still move over to a larger bank because they tend to interview people based on their bank name and position/title.

Brian, do you think there is bamboo ceiling in the States? I don’t really see many Asians make it to MD or above – do you think it’s because of cultural and language barriers? Given a large amount of your readers are Chinese, Indians and Koreans, what do you think it’s the best for us: stay in the States and compete with Americans or move back to home country which is isolated from the headquarter in the US or in the UK? Do you think Asians can make it to the top of investment banking in the future?

How would you rank the restructuring banks that are not top 3 (HL, LAZ, PJT), like Miller Buckfire, Millstein, Rothschild, Ducera, Perella Weinberg, Moelis, Evercore, Jefferies, Guggenheim, and Greenhill? Seems Miller Buckfire’s been dying slowly since it was acquired by Stifel with the senior bankers jumping to Guggenheim and other firms recently, and Greenhill’s dealflow in restructuring has also been weak lately. Perella obviously suffered from all the big hitters leaving to start Ducera. Millstein started recently but are on very big deals, and Evercore while strong reputationally, are still establishing themselves. Moelis and Rothschild seems to be strong, and Jefferies I’m not sure about… How would you establish the tiers here?

I’m not sure I know enough about all of them to provide a real ranking. I agree that Miller Buckfire and Greenhill haven’t been doing as well as the others. In general, Rothschild, Moelis, and Evercore are still probably your best bets because of their overall reputation. You would have to look at league tables for the others. I think Jefferies is decent in this area, but again, probably works on smaller deals than the others.

If you can find a fund with a restructuring/distressed/turnaround focus or group, yes. But it would still be tough to move from restructuring into a generalist role at a large fund because headhunters basically force you down a specific industry path.

How soon can people change from one bank to another? I really don’t like my current team and deal flows in my team are very weak. However, I’ve only started for 5 months and have limited deal experience. Any advice would be appreciated.

For people work in middle market firms such as Jefferies and Houlihan Lokey, is it possible to get into mega fund (such as Silverlake) directly? If not, would you recommend moving to a bb/elite boutique after 1-2 years? Does networking help at all for PE recruiting, or PE recruiting is 100% based on head hunters?

It would be almost impossible to get into mega-funds if you’re coming from a MM bank. I’m sure it has been done before (as I know someone will leave a comment offering some crazy exception), but it’s highly unlikely, especially with the way PE recruiting now works (extremely quickly). So if you want to work at one of those places, yes, you will need to move to an EB or BB.

PE recruiting at mega-funds and most middle-market funds is based almost entirely on recruiters, at least in the New York market. An article tomorrow will detail the craziness of the process and why recruiters handle it so poorly. It’s not as structured in Europe (and maybe some smaller markets in the U.S.).

I study in a “target” UK university and have borderline 1:1, but I have only done internship in a SEA regional investment bank. Which kind of UK investment bank do I have a realistic chance of working at?

You could potentially get into a BB, EB, or IBAB with those stats, but another internship would help. So it really depends on how much time you have left before graduating. If you have time for another internship at a larger bank, you have a good shot at any of those 3 categories. But even without one, you have a decent shot.

They’re in the middle-market category, so exit opportunities would be about the same: Mostly smaller buy-side funds that opt out of the on-cycle recruiting process, other banks, and corporate finance/development roles at normal companies.

My former roommate worked at Harris Williams and this doesn’t seem right. The overwhelming majority (85%+) of Harris Williams analysts place into PE, primarily because of the deep rooted relationships the firm has with PE clients (represent 75%+ of client base). HW is typically regarded as the #1 middle market bank, so that certainly helps as well. I would say to generalize the funds they end up at as “smaller buyside shops” is an incorrect statement. Very few, if any, will stay in banking, and if they do it will be as a direct promote to associate, which HW seems to offer to the majority of analysts who want to stay. Hope this helps.

The number of Analysts at BBs, EBs, and IBABs exceeds the number of spots at middle-market and larger PE funds each year… and as a result, many of those Analysts won’t even end up in PE.

Also, I don’t think anyone considers Harris Williams to be the #1 middle-market bank. Just to give you two specific examples of why, take a look at a few recent league tables from this year and last year:

Where are they on those lists? You might be able to make an argument for HL, Jefferies, Lincoln, or Raymond James being the top middle-market bank, but what data supports Harris Williams in that spot?

I’m happy to take back that statement if you can show evidence of why Harris Williams should be the #1 middle-market bank, or how well its Analysts have placed (e.g., 5-10 “Team” pages of middle-market PE funds that have Analysts from Harris Williams).

It’s also very interesting how you currently work at Harris Williams (from your email address, it was easy to find your LinkedIn profile). I’m sure that has nothing to do with this comment, though.

Nothing against the firm, as it’s a fine place to work, but the claims above are a stretch.

Hey Brian, what about merchant banks? I managed to get more interviews there for some reason. Is it possible to stay there for a year and go into PE or an EB? Is it as good as being at a MM bank, but better than a RB? Just curious if not I will just try and recruit for any off cycle spots at BBs. What do you think?

Thanks! Merchant banks are fine, but I think it would be tough to move into a larger PE fund from one. You would probably have to focus on smaller funds that “opt out” of the on-cycle recruiting frenzy. It would probably be easier to move into a bigger bank from there. Yes, I would say a merchant bank is definitely better than a regional bank and probably about the same as a middle-market bank.

how big are the analyst classes of In Betweens? It seems quite a few of the In Betweens from outside North America only hire for NYC eg HSBC and BNP. Also is it correct to assume they are a bit more selective than middle markets but less selective than EB?

Yes, the analyst class sizes and overall competitiveness are somewhere in between MM and EB firms. I’ve probably seen/heard a few more “Breaking in at the last minute, against all odds” stories at that group of banks as well. You might be right about the non-North-American firms mostly hiring for NY, but part of that is also because off-cycle and 6-month internships are a lot more common in Europe, and those banks offer those types of internships.

I very much agree with you that people often ask the wrong question. Great article. On that note, can I get a quick assessment of which banks I should target? 3.6 GPA from a semi-target with good analytical internship experience but not investment banking. I’m graduating in the spring having accepted a Big 4 advisory FT offer, but I’m going to try to make the jump to IB.

Thanks! With that background, you should probably aim for middle-market banks and possible some of the industry-specific boutiques. You could potentially move to EB or BB banks, but your chances are probably better at smaller firms.

I’m from a non-target and I have an interest in HC IB. I’m currently focusing on recruiting for MM and boutique banks and I was wondering if you had any insight on Cowen HC, Stifel HC, and Leerink? From what I heard, Cowen HC fell apart awhile ago, Stifel HC is growing, and Leerink is very reputable in the HC space. Thanks in advance.

Yes, it’s a decent place to start an IB career, though its standing among the middle-market banks has fallen in recent years because some (like Jefferies) have gotten a lot stronger and elite boutiques (Moelis, Qatalyst, etc.) have also taken more and more market share.

I have gotten a position for an unknown asset mangement boutique firm. I have signed up for graduate programs in big companies such as citi and credit Suisse etc. however, I have yet to get a reply from them as applications have just only closed.

my concern is thus on whether I should wait for the big companies’ reply, and reject the job offer. If I did this, one of the risks may be that it would be difficult for me to find another position as I do not have much related working experience that would help me get into a firm.

Hence, in this scenario, would you choose to take the job offer, or reject it?

I’d take the job offer first. If a BB contacts you you can then interview and see where it leads you. The interview process is long and uncertain, and I would not let go of your current role unless you are over 90% sure you will have another role on hand.

I have not been able to find anything on big 4 corporate finance groups (basically boutique investment banks). Can anyone comment on the exit ops here such as KPMG/Deloitte/PwC Corporate Finance as an analyst? MM PE or lower MM PE possible? Question is for Chicago.

Yes you will likely be working on middle/upper market M&A deals at the Big 4. However, since you’re already working at a boutique IB, I’m not sure if you need to transition to big 4 unless you don’t like your role there/big 4 offers you high pay/more benefits

Not necessarily. Yes brand name is important especially when you first start you career. However, if you’re moving out of Australia then yes you may not be able to take that offer. With the above being said, perhaps you can try to transfer out of Australia within GS (request internal transfer) after a year? That maybe the ideal case though you may have to stay in the country for a little while longer. If you’re moving to a boutique in Asia, I’d suggest you to do a lot more research because working in Asia is different and boutiques there may not necessarily have the structure and deal flow